obenchainr:drew46n2: there's a high percentage of people in this country who rarely leave their own counties, let alone their states. These are the people I imagine when I hear idiots regurgitate stereotypes about any city, let alone LA.

It's like the "LA was built in a desert" nonsense. 1910-1950, Los Angeles County was the top producing agricultural area in the country, and the water systems we're famous for weren't built until the 60s. Try doing that in a desert.

Your dates are a bit off, the local NPR stations covered alot of this recently covering the anniversary of the LA aqueduct. Alot of interesting info onWilliam Mulholland and the history of the growth of LA.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Mulholland

Very true, and you need to go a level further and define what you mean be "densely" populated. I use my own DPA scale (dumbasses per acre) and while LA has a few troublesome areas, it hardly ranks in the worst 100 areas. I save those for certain Florida counties and Montgomery County, Texas.

In LA, every damn time they mention a highway they put "the" in front of it. The 405, the 5, etc. Lived in the Bay Area for 20 years and never heard it but go to L.A. and even the damn broadcasters do it.

Knock that shiat off. Or there will be hell to pay when I am King.

There's a reason they do that, you know. Take a look at the freeway signs sometime. Notice they say things like "San Diego Freeway" in addition to "405 Southbound". Once upon a time*, everyone in the area referred to freeways by their names (not number) like "the San Diego freeway", complete with the article in the front. The preceding "the" stuck.

However, now it's more common among younger folk to refer to freeways by number, and not name, but the "the" persisted.

You can always tell how old someone---radio announcers, for example---in L.A. is by whether or not they refer to freeways by number or by name. The older ones use names instead of numbers.

FizixJunkee:Yeah, we lived in Brentwood within walking distance of the beach. It was nice.

/currently in Atlanta//prefers L.A. to ATL

What, floating down the 'hooch on an inner tube as lumps of fecal matter floats by doesn't compare to the beach?

Having lived on both places, I don't think either place is particularly nice overall but the good parts of LA (few there are) are light years ahead of the good parts of Atlanta (yes, suburbanites, I'm including entire metros... sorry, Johns Creek is only impressive to people who have never been anywhere else).

/Seriously, suburbanites in Atlanta are some of the most deluded people on the planet//Gulf of Mexico beaches > California beaches

ladodger34:Right, it's sort of like the 91. Going west, it's the Artesia Freeway and going east, it's the Riverside Freeway. I don't know very many people who call it that, but you hear from time to time.

It's annoying as shiat, isn't it? The same farking road, but it has two different names depending on which direction you're facing. Calling the freeways by number (e.g., the 405) is less confusing.

FizixJunkee:ladodger34:Right, it's sort of like the 91. Going west, it's the Artesia Freeway and going east, it's the Riverside Freeway. I don't know very many people who call it that, but you hear from time to time.

It's annoying as shiat, isn't it? The same farking road, but it has two different names depending on which direction you're facing. Calling the freeways by number (e.g., the 405) is less confusing.

I was really confused about that when I first moved here. Now I think its just a cute example of L.A. slang.

In LA, every damn time they mention a highway they put "the" in front of it. The 405, the 5, etc. Lived in the Bay Area for 20 years and never heard it but go to L.A. and even the damn broadcasters do it.

Knock that shiat off. Or there will be hell to pay when I am King.

Our traffic is such that we can't help but anthropomorphizethe freeways. The 405 is an angry god whose wraith can be felt from 6am to 8pm, daily. The 5 is a reliable friend who gets you where you're going, but occasionally you fight.

That, and we don't have weather, so we tend to talk about traffic jams like they are hurricanes that roll in unexpectedly.

EngineerAU:FizixJunkee: Yeah, we lived in Brentwood within walking distance of the beach. It was nice.

/currently in Atlanta//prefers L.A. to ATL

What, floating down the 'hooch on an inner tube as lumps of fecal matter floats by doesn't compare to the beach?

Having lived on both places, I don't think either place is particularly nice overall but the good parts of LA (few there are) are light years ahead of the good parts of Atlanta (yes, suburbanites, I'm including entire metros... sorry, Johns Creek is only impressive to people who have never been anywhere else).

/Seriously, suburbanites in Atlanta are some of the most deluded people on the planet//Gulf of Mexico beaches > California beaches

When I lived in San Diego I had to do a lot of jobs up in LA. The general rule was we work from 10-2. anytime before or after that meant you were fighting traffic there and back. Besides that I really didn't mind LA. Would never live there but nice place to visit. And when you get to any large city you will find all sorts of people some are nice and some aren't. A lot of snobs and posers. People who think they are special because they live there. A lot of it was for show and you quickly learned how to spot the fakes. But also lots of really nice and interesting people as well. It is what it is and what you take from it.

I just grew tired of it all. And moving back to small town flyover country is like a vacation. Yeah the weather is nicer there but you pay for it.

I grew up in So. Cal and I just can't bring myself to miss it. I lived in Berdoo, commuted to L.A. or O.C. for work as a finish carpenter. We'd leave before the sun came up and get home after it had set. Only thing I used to miss was the money I'd make back then.

/csb

As an aside, I wonder how many people have left that area for somewhere else due to the rising population.

EdNortonsTwin:EngineerAU: FizixJunkee: Yeah, we lived in Brentwood within walking distance of the beach. It was nice.

/currently in Atlanta//prefers L.A. to ATL

What, floating down the 'hooch on an inner tube as lumps of fecal matter floats by doesn't compare to the beach?

Having lived on both places, I don't think either place is particularly nice overall but the good parts of LA (few there are) are light years ahead of the good parts of Atlanta (yes, suburbanites, I'm including entire metros... sorry, Johns Creek is only impressive to people who have never been anywhere else).

/Seriously, suburbanites in Atlanta are some of the most deluded people on the planet//Gulf of Mexico beaches > California beaches

Challenge accepted:

[www.luxuryrealestate.com image 850x566]Emerald Bay in SoCal

And that water is a balmy 72 degrees in the summer. I'll stick with my 85 degree Gulf.

EdNortonsTwin:EngineerAU: FizixJunkee: Yeah, we lived in Brentwood within walking distance of the beach. It was nice.

/currently in Atlanta//prefers L.A. to ATL

What, floating down the 'hooch on an inner tube as lumps of fecal matter floats by doesn't compare to the beach?

Having lived on both places, I don't think either place is particularly nice overall but the good parts of LA (few there are) are light years ahead of the good parts of Atlanta (yes, suburbanites, I'm including entire metros... sorry, Johns Creek is only impressive to people who have never been anywhere else).

/Seriously, suburbanites in Atlanta are some of the most deluded people on the planet//Gulf of Mexico beaches > California beaches

Challenge accepted:

[www.luxuryrealestate.com image 850x566]Emerald Bay in SoCal

Yes, yes...very pretty.

But cold as balls. You need a suit if you're going to be in more than few minutes.

Ocracoke south, the water on the east coast is 80+ in the summer. It's like swimming in a relaxing bath. Your beaches are prettier, but not nearly as good for actually using the water.

whistleridge:On its own, LA would be the 87th most populous nation, edging out Bolivia, Hungary, Sweden, and just behind Benin. But at just 4,752 sq miles, it would be the 175th largest nation, down there with Brunei, Trinidad and Tobago, and French Polynesia. So basically, it's a country the size of Sweden, crammed into an area 1/2030th the size.

No wonder they have shiatty traffic.

One reason we have shiatty traffic is because our current governor, back in the 70s, decided there were enough freeways and shut down construction.

Mass transit is a giant boondoggle, they can't even agree on how to fund & build high speed rail. Subways? Same thing. Plenty of NIMBYs out here.